Citizens of Banks could be voting this November on whether to annex about 200 acres of land into the city limits.

Two separate requests – one for Quail Valley Golf Course and the other for a piece of property owned by the Van Dyke Family Land LLC – will come before the Banks City Council next month. Councilors will decide whether to move the requests forward to a public vote on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The Van Dyke property consists of 27.5 acres of farm land. If annexed, 13.23 would be zoned for single family residential, and 14.27 would be zoned for low density residential development.

The far larger piece of property is Quail Valley Golf Course, which consists of 172.93 acres. The majority of it – 144.03 acres – is the golf course itself. But Quail Valley's owners are mainly interested in annexing the rest of the property, much of which they plan to develop into housing. If annexed, 11.64 acres would be zoned for single family residential, 7.96 acres for high density single family residential, 5.8 acres for low density single family residential, and 3.5 acres for commercial development.

Under those zoning conditions, the most housing units that could possibly fit on the site are 207, but Quail Valley estimates that a maximum of 166 units could be built if 20 percent of the land is dedicated for streets and open space.

What needs to happen before housing is built

Vice President Tim Schauermann said the Quail Valley effort to join the city and eventually develop housing at the site began about 16 years. And getting the annexation approved is still just an early step.

The annexation would merely determine the zoning designations; it would not approve any development at the golf course. That could still be years away, he said, and would require further Planning Commission approvals.

Part of the Banks Planning Commission's annexation recommendation to the city council includes the approval of a developer's agreement, which stipulates that Quail Valley would be responsible for supplying infrastructure to the annexed properties before development could begin.